Nutrition

What an enchanting dream -- feeding your family a more nutritious diet and cutting the food budget at the same time. Well, you might want to pinch yourself, because it can be done.We know, we know. Grilled seafood, rich in nutrients and low in fat, crisp asparagus, and large meaty tomatoes -- all of these things are so expensive.And there's the waste factor. If you're like the average family, you buy fresh fruit and vegetables, only to throw them out because they've gone bad before you've had time to prepare them.

JACK BEHNKEN, 80 Founded pet food firm Jack Behnken, who started the company that makes pet food brands including Atta Boy and Atta Cat, died of cancer Sunday in Ogden, Utah. Mr. Behnken, president and chief executive of American Nutrition Inc., started the company in 1972, calling it Animal Nutrition, after working for Kellogg Co. and Welch Grape Juice Co. It was the start of a chain of factories that produce pet food, including Southwest Pet Products in Phoenix and Northwest Pet Products in Woodland, Wash.

WHILE researching the Internet for the latest on "nutrients," like nitrogen and phosphorus, that are the principal pollutants of the Potomac River, I accidentally pulled up a piece on "nutrition" -- obesity and dieting among Americans.It made me recall the time I did a huge computer search on marine mammals, only to net everything I never wanted to know about the Miami Dolphins football team.But with my nutrient-nutrition glitch, something clicked.People in this country are worldbeaters, it turns out, in gaining weight and in losing it. We are both obese and dieters at unprecedented levels.

As adults grow older, proper nutrition is often threatened by diminishing appetites and a host of factors, including ill-fitted dentures, depression and chronic disease.A coalition of health care experts, including the American Academy of Family Physicians, recently reported that an estimated 40 percent of the nation's 2 million nursing home residents aren't getting the nutrients they need. And it is thought that about half of them were malnourished before they even arrived at the homes."Elderly people in all settings -- whether they're living at home or in a nursing home -- are at risk for malnutrition," says Beth Klitch, president of Survey Solutions Inc., a national nursing home consulting firm in Columbus, Ohio.

SAN ILDEFONSO, Mexico -- At just 1 month old, Maria Isabel Esquivel is chubby, smiling and alert, and her older brother and sisters now run with bounding strides through the family's tiny cornfield in this dirt-poor Indian village.The vigor of the Esquivel children brings to life the startling statistics that are emerging from several ambitious nutrition projects in the Mexican countryside.The goal is nothing short of transforming the humble tortilla, Mexico's corn-based staple food, into a protein-fortified "supertortilla" that would give a nutritional boost to the nearly 20 million Mexicans who live in extreme poverty.

Watching "Gone With the Wind" recently, I was struck by a scene where a single rooster was about to become the centerpiece of a special meal for a family of six who were busy planting cotton fields and rebuilding a plantation.Then I remembered my last trip to Kenny Rogers', where half a chicken was served up in a meal for just one person who works on a computer and lives in a home where appliances do all the work.And we wonder why we have a hard time controlling our weight!More and more health organizations are beginning to catch on to the fact that what controls weight gain or loss is total calories eaten vs. total calories spent, not just the fat content of food.

Police logTown Center: 10200 block of Little Patuxent Parkway: Someone entered the General Nutrition Center at The Mall in Columbia late Sunday or early Monday and opened several containers and bottles. Police said nothing was taken.Pub Date: 5/01/96

Accommodating everyone's nutritional needs is innate, so I find it hard to stop being a dietitian, even while planning our wedding feast. Fortunately for our guests, both Ted and I love a good party, so we'll happily walk a line that blends nutrition and flavor.For starters, we're having a cocktail hour. One of the great benefits of being an older, second-time bride is that no conventions apply. I'm finally of age to give myself away, so I don't have to make that grand entrance down the aisle.

For months, the Park Heights Family Support Center has wedged job preparation programs, support groups and child-care services into cramped, rented quarters in Northwest Baltimore.But that has changed.Today, the center will hold an open house to celebrate its new 10-room Pimlico Road complex -- a major improvement from the single room it had rented in the Delta Community Center on Springhill Avenue. The new building -- equipped with modern kitchens -- will allow the center to offer improved nutrition programs and other services, officials say."

WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration denounced a major element yesterday of the House Republicans' welfare bill, which would replace most federal food and nutrition programs with cash grants to be administered by the states.The administration said the Republican proposal would cut at least $5.2 billion -- almost 13 percent -- from the $40.8 billion that would otherwise be spent on food assistance next year.In a report analyzing the bill, the Agriculture Department said yesterday that the Republican proposal also would eliminate "all uniform nutrition standards" now set by the federal government for school lunches, the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, and other food programs.

Michael Pollan's advice on healthful eating is refreshingly straightforward: Eat food, not too much, mostly plants. Pollan, who has written tomes on food including the best-seller The Omnivore's Dilemma, said he deliberately kept his latest book, In Defense of Food, An Eater's Manifesto, short and simple. "The deeper I delved into the whole field of nutrition science and the whole issue of what you should eat, the simpler it got," Pollan said in a phone interview from Berkeley, Calif.

Eat your fruits and vegetables. It's not hard, and they'll help you stay fit. That's the message from state officials, who have launched a month-long educational campaign to support March's National Nutrition Month. Buying local produce will also provide the freshest and most affordable foods, say the officials from the departments of Agriculture and Health and Mental Hygiene. The officials say 80 percent of heart disease, stroke and diabetes can be prevented by eating well, along with exercising and not smoking.

Salary: $45,000 Age: 55 Years on the job: Two How she got started: : After receiving a degree in addiction counseling, Chaney went to work at Park West Medical Center running a substance abuse program for HIV-positive clients. She later worked in the anti-smoking campaign for the Black Mental Health Alliance in partnership with the Baltimore City Health Department. She also taught in a nutrition program for addicts at the Baltimore City Detention Center. While working as a nutrition consultant with a personal trainer, she received a certificate in personal training and went on to take a part-time job at the Red Brook Health and Wellness Center.

Peter Barry isn't a doctor, a nutritionist or even an herbal healer, but customers constantly stroll into Baltimore's OK Natural Food Store seeking his advice on vitamins. What's he got for hypertension? For energy? And the one everyone whispers: sexual enhancement? A natural foods salesman for 22 years, Barry takes a few supplements of his own, but he thinks consumers are desperate for a magic pill. Standing before a giant wall of bottles bearing such labels as coral calcium, B-50 and Change-O-Life Blend, he offers his standard recommendation: "grandma's cooking."

The 32nd Street Farmers' Market in Baltimore opened last Saturday morning with four produce farmers unloading batches of fresh blueberries for sale. Two and a half hours later, the berries were gone - undoubtedly scooped up by patrons who covet not only the seasonal fruit's sweet taste and variety of uses, but its abundance of health benefits. In fact, blueberries routinely make lists of nutrient-packed victuals commonly known as super foods. They are among the most important blocks in the food pyramid: vegetables, fruits, meats, beverages and dairy products that have helped popularize such terms as Omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants and beta carotene.

Nearly one in eight families taking children to the University of Maryland Medical Center's emergency room and primary care clinic lack enough food to ensure good nutrition - putting the youngsters at risk for growth and learning problems, a study has found. Acting on the finding, the city health department yesterday announced a plan to screen children for signs of hunger and to link families to food pantries and federal nutrition programs such as food stamps and Women Infants and Children.

Angela Ginn-Meadow Outpatient clinical dietitian and diabetes educator Joslin Diabetes Center, an affiliate of Maryland General Hospital, Baltimore SALARY -- $57,500 AGE -- 28 YEARS ON THE JOB -- Six HOW SHE GOT STARTED -- Ginn-Meadow wanted to combine her passions for dance, fitness, nutrition and medicine into a career so she graduated with a bachelor of science in food and nutrition from Morgan State University. She went on to complete a nine-month internship with Southern Regional Medical Center in Georgia.

healthcastle.com This eye-catching site has eating and shopping tips from registered dietitians, and offers podcasts for the nutrition-conscious to download on the run.

produceguru.com Getting ready to eat better in the new year? This Web site offers a produce database with a wealth of information on many fruits and vegetables. It also has nutrition information and produce news.

Healthy nachos? It may seem an oxymoron, but that's the goal of Columbia's Martek Biosciences, which yesterday said it will begin adding a nutritional supplement to a new cheese sauce that is made by a Texas company and marketed to schools nationwide. It is a pairing that Martek executives hope parents will embrace after years of trying to force-feed their finicky children nutritional foods. But it is unlikely to satisfy medical experts, who bemoan the childhood obesity problem that is growing along with kids' waistlines.